Casino operators have been long concerned with losing revenue when new or old gaming machines sit idle. Each gaming machine occupies a footprint on the casino floor and casino operators desire that each gaming machine achieve a certain level of revenue return. One traditional factor used by casino operators to measure revenue return is the win per unit (WPU) per day. Gaming machines having a WPU above a certain amount may cause a casino to acquire more of these gaming machines whereas having a WPU below may cause the casino to remove them.
Attraction features have been used by casinos to encourage players to play idle gaming machines. One feature is to incorporate advertising or promotions into the audio and visual components of a gaming machine to attract potential players to sit and play the gaming machine so as to increase revenue to the casino. From the casino's viewpoint such advertising and promotions also provides an additional source of revenue for the idle gaming machine. Some players, however, upon seeing such advertising may shy away from playing these idle gaming machines believing them to be “cold” (i.e., not winning). A continuing need exists for new attraction features to encourage play of idle gaming machines especially those gaming machines that have remained idle for some period of time.
Casino operators using a network are also able to access an individual gaming machine to download multi-themed base games, change the payback percentages and change other game criteria based on time of day, seasons, holidays, new games, new themes, etc. In some states, payback percentages may be changed if the gaming machine is idle for a time (such as 4 minutes) and then the machine must remain idle after the change for another period of time (such as 4 minutes). Further, the screen of the gaming machine should inform players of the change in configuration. A need exists to provide an attraction game that plays in parallel with any conventional downloadable themed base game and that does not interfere with the play of or the payback percentages for such a multi-themed base game.
Manufacturers may lease gaming machines to casinos and some manufacturers base the lease on a share of the wagers made on the gaming machine. U.S. Pat. No. 7,908,169 sets forth one approach for leasing gaming machines which provide in FIGS. 14 and 15 attraction sequences that may be performed in an attempt to induce a potential player to play the leased gaming machine. Here, one or more video images with sound are generated in the gaming machine to attract the player. Any input by the player causes the attraction sequence to terminate so that the player can play the gaming machine. (Col. 23, lines 53-68). From the viewpoint of such manufacturers, a continuing need also exists for new attraction features to encourage play of leased idle gaming machines or to encourage trial play of new gaming machines that players are unfamiliar with.
From the viewpoint of players, most simply want to sit at a gaming machine and win. Some players may ask casino personnel which gaming machines are “hot.” Or, some players may drift from idle gaming machine to idle gaming machine and insert a wager to see if the gaming machine is “hot” or “cold”. Often, such drifting players do not even sit at the idle gaming machine and may remain standing to place a few wagers and see what happens. After a few plays of not winning, the player may decide that the gaming machine is cold and drift to another gaming machine. But, after a few plays of winning, even small amounts, the player may sit at the gaming machine believing that the gaming machine is “hot” or at least “warm.” Gaming machines use random number generators and so the player's feeling that a machine is hot, warm or cold may be more psychological than based in fact. A further need exists to provide an attraction game that is hidden, without providing any audible or visible indications, so that the drifting player becomes convinced that the base game of the idle gaming machine is “warm” or “hot.”
A final need exists for an attraction game whether hidden or not that is universal with most conventional gaming machines, that does not change base game play and the odds associated with such play, any aesthetic feature of the conventional gaming machine or that the existence of the attraction game cannot be easily determined by the player.